News Brief

3/11/2012, Adar 17, 5772

MKs to Europe to Fight Ban on Kosher Slaughter

Knesset members Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism), David Azoulay (Shas) and Ya'akov Edri (Kadima) left Israel, Sunday, to influence European counterparts regarding the threat to shechita (kosher slaughtering), which became more serious following remarks by French President Nicolas Sarkozy that it has to change because of cruelty to animals. The MKs will meet with French rabbis and members of parliament before going to Brussels, where they will meet European Union parliamentarians and representatives from Holland, where the lower house passed a resolution against kosher slaughter.

Rabbi Eichler said the delegation is not seeking French media coverage so that the decision-makers can be influenced without it looking like interference in French elections, where it is an issue for left-wing animal-rights advocates and right-wing opponents of Muslim slaughtering practices. Repeating the message that anti-shechita measures must be fought to keep from spreading, he added, "The status of rights of religious freedom for Jews in the modern world is decreasing in relation to animal rights."